Persistence

The theme of this piece came from an excellent message by Dennis Keating last Sunday at Emmanuel Faith Church. Thanks for your faithfulness Dennis!

The Rock-n-Roll Marathon was run yesterday in San Diego. Having been a distance runner for 32 years, I know what it is like on a hot summer's day when your body tells you to stop but from somewhere deep inside comes the voice that says, "just keep putting one foot ahead of the other."

Webster defines persistence as; steady perseverance, unyielding tenacity, holding on to a course of action in spite of difficulties.

Perseverance and persistance can be seen in the chicken and the egg. A baby chick, approaching full life, finds himself in a nice, safe environment. Soon however, the chick becomes aware that the shell keeping him safe and comfortable is also confining him. He finds himself restricted and begins pecking at the shell. He pecks and pecks, working very hard, gaining strength hour by hour through the struggle.

Before long, the chick has attained the strength and endurance to cope with a new environment and breaks through the shell. The chick continues to peck and soon he is free, ready for a new level of life. Well-meaning people have tried to help little chicks speed up the process by cracking or peeling the shell away to help open it for them. The chicks do not develop the strength to cope with their new environment and soon die.

Consider the story of John Stephen Akhawari;

At 7:00 pm on October 20, 1968, only a few thousand spectators remained in Mexico City's Olympic Stadium. Finally, spectators heard the wail of police sirens outside the stadium. A lone runner wearing the colors of Tanzania staggered into the stadium. John Stephan Akhawari was the last contestant to finish the 26.2 mile race. His leg injured in a fall, bloodied and crudely bandaged, He hobbled the final lap around the track.

The crowd rose to their feet and applauded him as if he were the Gold Medal Champion. After the race, a reporter asked him why he had not quit. His reply, "My country did not send me 7,000 miles to start the race. They sent me to finish it."

The Lord Jesus had a moment in the Garden of Gethsemane where he was tempted to quit the race. But as he prayed, God the Father reminded Him that He did not send Him to start the race but to finish it. Our Saviour finished His race at Calvary, and declared, "it is finished."

And now, beloved, it is our turn to run the race. As the Writer to the Hebrews declares"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles us, and let us run with perseverence the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith,"

Tonight, Valerie is that runner approaching the Mexico City Arena, injured and alone. But inside are waiting "that great cloud of witnesses" that God has declared are watching her. And all of you are there, beloved, as is the Lord Jesus Himself.

Tomorrow, Dr. Goldklang will implant (2) temporary plastic stents at Scripps Memorial to open the bile ducts and restore proper flow out of the liver. Pray for supernatural skills for the medical team. Especially pray that this laparscopic insertion through the mouth is done so that Val does not experience the severe pain that accompanied the last procedure of this type. This seems to occur when they are too hard manipulating the patient's neck. Pray that there are no complications or infections after the procedure.

On Thursday, we are going up to USC Norris to see Dr. Lenz. Pray that he can make sense of the CD for the MRI/MRCP from Scripps. I think we will be getting another CT scan at USC this Thursday. Pray for great wisdom on his part as to the cause of this blockage. Val mentioned that it may have been caused by the Pilates she has been doing.

Thanks Dean for calling in that prescription last night!

Godspeed